Tuesday, February 28, 2012

My last day in St. Martin was filled to the brim, with beach
time, great food, and a chance to go on the air.

Fellow American Jeffrey
“Soc” Sochrin heard I was in town and asked if I would come down to his radio
station and talk a bit about my trip. I’ve
done a little radio and always enjoyed it so I agreed to do it
the morning on the day before I was to leave St. Martin. I also decided that as long as I
was heading down to Simpson Bay I would check out some other spots in that area
on the Dutch side of the island.

Jeffrey, who has lived in St. Martin for four years,
welcomed me to Island 92. We had such a good
time talking about my travels and my days covering music that I ended up on the
air for nearly an hour. His shows are always entertaining and you can listen
(and watch the webcam) on his site even if
you aren’t in the Caribbean.

Before I left we sampled a little Patron XO Café and he told
me about his project, Team Golden Dog,
which supports animal welfare. It’s a worthy cause worth checking out.

I walked down the block from the radio station to Zee Best, the closest thing you
will find to a French café on this side of Paris. Dominic owns three of these
bakeries, one of which includes a production plant that makes luscious pastries
fresh all day. The almond cheese
croissant was heavenly and the Montreal
native insisted that I take the La Vegetarienne Crepe (spinach, tomatoes,
mushrooms and cheese) to go.

From Zee Best, I walked to Toppers Restaurant to meet with the owner
himself, Topper Dabeul. Topper had come to St. Martin from Massachusetts, where
he had already been in the restaurant business. I needed a bit of time to
digest my croissant, so I started off tasting some of his rum.

The Toppers Rhum is flavorful without being overly sweet and
comes in some interesting flavors – Banana, Mocha Mamma, Julio Mojito, Apple
Pie, Coconut and my favorite, White Chocolate Raspberry. Before I could finish
sipping, there was an assortment of good old fashioned comfort food in front of
me from the restaurant menu. I hadn’t quite been ready to eat a lot, but I
tasted the macaroni & cheese, beef brisket (with homemade mashed potatoes)
and Italian meatballs as good as my Aunt Mary used to make.

I took a bus back to the Sonesta and figured I would take
advantage of a few free hours on this beautiful island. I walked along the
beach for a while, dipping my feet (the water was a bit too rough for swimming)
in the clear aqua sea. As I got closer
to the Sunset Grill, the crowd got bigger. It was quite interesting watching
people from all over the world speaking different languages, but all waiting
for the planes to fly over them.

I headed back to the hotel and spent a bit of time at the
swim-up bar where I had a delicious drink that I have to pass along. It’s
called a “BBC” and it’s made from Bailey’s Irish Cream, banana liqueur, pina
colada mix and amaretto. It’s then blended and poured into a cup laced with
chocolate syrup and topped with cinnamon.

Can you think of a better way to top off a week on the
beautiful Caribbean island of St. Martin?